handsel

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Aleman, Cervantes, Lesage, Defoe and Fielding were inspired to imitation, and today Lazarillo is acclaimed as the prototype of the picaresque novel, as a handsel of the arriving era of realism in European literature.

From Time Magazine Archive

But the devil a sou the devils took; far from taking handsel, they were flouted and jeered by the country louts.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 4 by Motteux, Peter Anthony

It has been share and share alike for three years, and bravely you have all held up, and share alike it shall be now, and here's the handsel of it.

From Westward Ho!, or, the voyages and adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough, in the county of Devon, in the reign of her most glorious majesty Queen Elizabeth by Kingsley, Charles

When you have become expert at it, you may always keep yourself neat and tidy about the legs, on Sundays and handsel Mondays.

From The Eskdale Herd-boy A Scottish Tale for the Instruction and Amusement of Young People by Blackford, Mrs. (Martha)

"But these gentlemen," said Trois Eschelles, looking towards the chimney, "do not these help, and so take a handsel of our vocation?"

From Quentin Durward by Scott, Walter, Sir